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=Group #1's Discussion on Language, Prejudice and Society=

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As terrible as racism can be when expressed through individuals, the more potent type of racism is the kind that is embedded in public systems. This article brings up many interesting points about the racism embedded in people in power's view towards African American English. The article presents the argument that most other languages are spoken in different dialects based on where people reside geographically. African American English is viewed as being an inferior language in our country, which is unfair. Who is to say one language is // better // than another? Baldwin argues that the connotation of AAE is based on the racism towards blacks that is embedded in this country, both at an individual level and in the public systems. I would like to share an excerpt from a paper I wrote in a Substance Abuse Policy course that furthers Baldwin's argument: "As a result of the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Congress established different mandatory penalties for cocaine and crack cocaine, with significantly higher punishments for crack cocaine offenses. (Papa, 2007) There is a 5-year minimum prison penalty for a first-time offense involving 5 grams of crack cocaine or 500 grams of powder cocaine. A first time offender caught with 50 grams of crack cocaine would receive a 10-year mandatory minimum sentencing. In order to receive the same punishment, a first time offender would need to be caught with 5,000 grams powder cocaine. (Alexander, 2008) In order to grasp, how this law is racist one would need to thoroughly examine the communities each drug is most prevalent in. Blacks comprise the majority of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses while the majority of those convicted of powder cocaine offenses are white. This has led to exceedingly harsh sentences being distributed to African American defendants. Since whites are more likely to be convicted of powder cocaine offense they frequently receive much more lenient sentences than a comparable activity that just so happens to appear more common in lower class communities. " -Angela Camera ======

I would think that most white Americans feel that Ebonics is more harsh sounding than Standard English. Is this any surprise seeing the harsh reality from which Ebonics grew? And is it not amazing that white America has taken terms like Jazz and “beaten to his socks” and morphed them to suit its needs. Isn’t that how ebonics came to be? Words morphed from our society and their own native languages to create a language relevant to their harsh lifestyle - to define and speak for their experience.- Matt Duffy


 * 2. Language Myth #17** **[|****http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/****]**

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[] Can anyone understand what the three men sitting with flannel shirts are saying? What do you think is the reason why the old man says, "We now talk like everybody else." How do you think this makes him feel? Should he have had to change the way he speaks in order to accommodate those around him?======

I really enjoyed listening to adult, non-academics address language in this clip. So much of what we have studies in this class has looked at the child or adolescent. Hearing the average person talk about their speech was particularly effective after weeks of reading the polished essays in the Delpit book. Language awareness and code switching exist beyond the classroom and they are part of everyday life in Tangier, Viriginia.

I watched this clip twice and all I could make out from the men in the flannel shirts was something about “all day” and “she was behind the counter.” But I’m clueless as to what they were discussing. I don’t think it matters that I can’t understand them, as the viewer hundreds of miles away. What’s more important is that these men appear to have no trouble understanding each other and expressing their ideas.

The notion of whether or not these men should change how they speak for those around them made me think of one of Kate’s posts from Module 3 that I never responded to. In it, Kate talks about dominant culture suppressing groups through language. The residents of Tangier, Virginia are aware that their speech is not considered normal and make concessions to speak like Walter Cronkite, as one man put it in the clip. These people want to talk “right” — whatever that means. Tangier’s residents want to use Standard English. Did anyone else pick up a tinge of disdain from the man who said they sometimes “fall into the pattern” of years ago. — Jen Misthal

These flannelled-shirted men are so incomprehensible that they might as well be speaking in a foreign language. If they want to effectively communicate with the outside word, they must leave their comfort zone in the small community setting and add another tool or two to their language belt. Seemingly, they want to relate to "outsiders" such as Walter Cronkite but are severely limited by their language (poignant notions of language as power and communion). I do not think the issue is about talking “right” or "wrong" in this instance, rather, simply communicating in the most common and effective manner. My point of tension piece entitled “Chasing Spanish” recounts the frustration I experienced when I returned from Madrid to start working at an export company in Union Square. Much to my dismay, the majority of my Latin American clients, (mostly male, under-educated albeit successful engineers), had trouble understanding my new, nearly perfect, pure, Castilian Spanish. Speaking the same language, we struggled to understand each other. Only after my boss told me to stop writing like Shakespeare and use vocabulary/slang from clients' common dialects did I finally accept the fact that, to perform effectively, I had to give up my precious language ego and adapt appropriately to the context. The "Americanization" and "Mexicanization" of my own Spanish was painful at first, but my sales job depended on successful interactions with all clients.
 * "It's Greek to me!"**

I concluded that this is a mere reality of language's commonality and applicability: You must wear different hats (or flannelled-shirts) based on content, audience, purpose, and setting. Outside of Madrid or Tangier, this adaptability works only in our favor. -Kate

When talking to other people from Tangier, do the residents have to change their language? What I saw in the video were people speaking in their informal language. Why should they have to change? They were not in any sort of formal setting, and they were effectively communicating with other members of their society. When I'm around my boyfriends family, all of whom are from Donegal, Ireland, I do not expect them to slow down their speech so I can understand everything they're saying. As an "outsider" in an informal setting it is up to me to keep up, not up to them to change their discourse at home.

It does seem that there is a tinge of disdain, or perhaps disappointment, in the man's comments about falling into a pattern. this reminds me of behavior and comments of my students. Some of my students who speak Black English are their own worst critics. while others' judgments of them may be silent (effective, influential, but silent), the students themselves are even more brutal in their judgment of themselves as individuals and each other. they are harsh in their corrections of each other. They know the reality of the world; they know that people outside of their communities are judging them based on their language. They may not agree with it, but they will join in. -Julia

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[] I find the story of the first woman very interesting. That a dialect or an accent can carry so much weight that it completely changes the way you feel about someone in hours - so much so that you have to fly home. Could the man really have changed that much? The prejudices in this country are staggering, how do we overcome thinking like this?====== [] Consider the above videos of people using different words to define different things. If these people were to have a conversation, would they be able to understand each other? If not, how can we say that they are speaking the same language? - Matt Duffy

**3. Dis maks my teacha cry** [|****http://www.lvrj.com/living/15833917.html****]

"The standard tack for an English teacher is to explain to students that different forms of writing are suitable in different circumstances. Writing for specific audiences is, Karpelenia notes, a topic covered in the district's English curriculum. "A lot of our teachers will tell students, 'You may use whatever format you like when you're outside of the classroom, but for education purposes, we expect you to use academic language,'" Karpelenia says.”

This is an interesting perception of standard English and a creative and practical use of code-switching. –Shana

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 * 4. Literacy study: 1 in 7 U.S. adults are unable to read this story** [|******http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-08-adult-literacy_N.htm?csp=usat.me******]======

"Overall, the study finds, the nation hasn't made a dent in its adult-literacy problem: From 1992 to 2003, it shows, the USA added about 23 million adults to its population; in that period, an estimated 3.6 million more joined the ranks of adults with low literacy skills." "By contrast, in several large states — California, New York, Florida and Nevada, for instance — the number of adults with low skills rose." [] Amazing! All the talk and we haven't changed anything, this is so surprising to me, especially in places like New York. Is it inevitable that some will fall through the cracks and not be taught to read? - Matt Duffy Sadly, yes, it does seem inevitable. Teachers, for all the regulations and intrusions of government and administration, have amazing autonomy and power in their own classrooms. I think there is very little accountability. There are also amazing differences in teacher-training, whether the differences relate to geography or time. I do not know what my elementary and high school teachers learned in graduate school, but I would guess that their training is very different than mine will be. This is not to say the teacher is always responsible for a student falling through the cracks. Kids disappear; they move around. One lost year, whether because of an ill-equipped teacher or a less-then perfect home life, is probably nearly impossible to recover from. and once you,re an illiterate adult, what can you do? -Julia

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 * 5. Teacher wants to expel Huck Finn** ** [|**http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/inauguration/la-na-classics19-2009jan19,0,6366388.story**]  **======

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I very adamantly think that this article should be titled, "Teacher thinks Obama is proof that 'Huckleberry Finn' needs to leave // a // classroom" instead of "...// the // classroom". In my opinion, the books taught in an English classroom should be chosen at the discretion of the teacher. If your population of students do not appreciate a work and feel a disconnect with it, then you can certainly omit it from your curriculum. However, I think that it is ridiculous to suggest that it not be taught in other schools, especially if other students still do find the issues to be relevant to their lives and to today. I also think that students feeling outrage upon reading Huckleberry Finn is even more of a reason to teach it; the more emotion the novel stirs, the more likely the kids are to remember it and its themes (though I do agree that we need to consider students' and parents' reactions and try our best not to offend anyone). However, especially with a black President, Foley would be a fool to suggest that racial inequalities and misperceptions of African Americans are not a current issue in the United States. In my opinion, the election of President Obama makes it even more essential that students read such texts as // Huckleberry Finn // to realize the notion that black (wo)men are not ignorant, but have been, and are still, stigmatized in certain societies. -Shana ======

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I completely agree Shana- with President Obama in office this might be exactly the time we should be teaching books like Huckleberry Finn in schools. It puts the current political atmosphere in the larger historical narrative and shows how we've arrived at this moment. If we start excising books from the curriculum for reasons like this students will never be able to make the connections they need to make judgments about the future, everything they encounter might well as have come from a vacuum. - Bryan ======

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I was shocked to learn that Bill Cosby, the same man who bought all of the rights to // The Little Rascals // the express purpose of keeping them // off // of television because of their demeaning portrayal of blacks, contributed to racism based on language. The excerpt I have included below is from a speech given to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v Board of Education decision. "Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal," he declared. "These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids -- $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.' . . . "They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English," he exclaimed. "I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is'. . . And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. . . . Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. . . . You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!" Comments? -Angela Camera ======

As harsh as the man sounds, he does make a point. Children learn from their surroundings, from their environments. Our home discourse is the one we learn from our families and our home. If we are not taught or pushed towards learning Standard English, we will not learn Standard English. It is only natural for us to mimic our parents. I find that I switch between talking like my mother and like my father—more so my mother. Developing language is the same as developing different aspects of our personalities or habits. We adapt and learn from those around us. I like to clean and be organized and this is probably because my mother is extremely organized. Now I am the only one of my six siblings to develop this need for cleanliness but I also tend to spend more time with my mother than the rest of my brothers and siblings. But this is the same as learning a language. My boyfriend’s sister has a two year old son. He is very much at the mimic-stage. Julie, his mother, has a tendency to say “shit” by accident around him. One time while I was getting Mickey up from a nap, he grabs some toy and says, “oh shittt,” just like his mother does. Of course Julie never intentionally says these things around Mickey but sometimes it slips. But it is this notion that children mimic those they are around. If someone is not using Standard English or introducing Standard English into a child’s life, than chances are they are only go to speak as those around them do. - Tara C.

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[] Interesting video "Why do you talk so white? Standard American English, African American English (ebonics), and how they are both legitimate. Recognized by linguists and the American Association for applied linguistics -Angela Camera ======